Heating Up In Kashmir

You might have missed it in the US news but things are heating up with new tensions in Kashmir.

Kashmir is the place former President Bill Clinton once called one of the most dangerous places on earth thanks to its point of contest between two nuclear powers – i.e. Pakistan and India.

About two weeks ago, at the same time New York City and New Jersey were finding small bombs planted around their cities, a terrorist strike was launched against an Indian military base in the Kashmir area. Since then there has been an escalation in the violence and tensions. Near the end of last week India claims to have launched surgical strikes into Pakistani territory.

What is significant about this most recent flare up of tensions and violence is that India appears to be deliberately seeking to discredit Pakistani leadership.

Violence and shooting at the line of control in Kashmir is frequent and unfortunately regular.

As India made claims to the surgical strikes into Pakistani territory the Pakistani government reported that no such strikes occurred and India did not in fact cross into Pakistan. Instead, according to the Pakistani government, India fired on Pakistani solider at the border and Pakistani soldiers did the same back at India.

In this statement Pakistan was saying that what occurred last week is the same thing that regularly occurs between the two nations.

India has pushed back though and produced recorded video footage of their soldiers going into Pakistan and killing individuals they have identified as terrorists. This push back by the Indian government appears to be a deliberate move to not allow the Pakistanis to save face.

It is one thing to fight terrorists in another nation’s sovereign territory. It is quite another to rub it in that nation’s face and refuse the opportunity to save face.

This kind of deliberate humiliation and aggression on the part of India is no doubt justified by the terrorist threat they perceive. It will also no doubt produce a perpetuation of more violence and an escalation of tensions as Pakistan now feels the need to push back.

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JB Shreve has been the host of the End of History podcast since 2012. He has degrees in International Relations, Middle East Studies and International Business. His books include the Intelligence Brief Series. Regular posts and updates from JB Shreve are available at www.theendofhistory.net Find JB on Google+